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by Dan GoldwasserPublished: 08//about//1998

First
Titanic became a smash-success, and then James Horner won two
Oscars for the film. Soon everyone was buzzing about Horner, and
wondering what would come next. Unfortunately, Deep Impact was
little more than a watered down Apollo 13, but The Mask Of
Zorro had large swashbuckling moments and a memorable theme.

But it wasn't what Horner was putting out that
was new, but what CD manufacturers were putting out that was
old.

GNP / Crescendo Records re-released the scores
to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The
Search For Spock with new stickers, indicating that these scores
were written by "The Academy Award Winning Composer
ofTitanic".

A bootleg called "James Horner: Suites and
Themes" was released. Then the officially sanctioned compilation
albums began to arrive: Sonic Images' "Heart of the Ocean: The Film
Music of James Horner" led the bunch. It was soon followed by Varese
Sarabande's "Titanic and Other Film Scores of James Horner", and
Silva Screen's "Titanic: The Essential James Horner Film Music
Collection". It is these four CDs that I will focus on for this
article.

James Horner: Suites and Themes
[Bootleg]

This bootleg was released in Spring 1998, and
contains over 70 minutes of music from scores not likely to be
released anytime soon, at least in any official capacity. The sound
quality is quite good, and if you happen to come across this CD for a
reasonable price, it might be worth picking up. Music contained on
the CD is from Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, 48 Hrs., The Pursuit of
D.B. Cooper, The Journey of Natty Gann, House of Cards, Something
Wicked This Way Comes, Tales From the Crypt, My Heroes Have Always
Been Cowboys, I Love You To Death, Jack The Bear, and Uncommon
Valor. All of these are from the original recordings, which is
why this is a bootleg.

Heart of the Ocean: The Film Music of James
Horner [Sonic Images]

A detailed review of this CD was posted
previously on Soundtrack.Net as a "Soundtrack of the Week" article.

Titanic and Other Film Scores of James Horner
[Varese Sarabande]

Varese Sarabande hopped on the Titanic
bandwagon closer to the time of the 2ndTitanic album than
the first, but they do so with quite an effort. The first track of
this CD contains a suite from Titanic as conducted by John
Debney and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Chorus. That is
what separates this re-recording from the original - the use of a
live chorus instead of Horner's obviously synthesized voices. Debney
does a fine job conduction the suite, and does a very accurate
re-telling of Horner's score. But once the choral parts arrive, it's
as if we are on a whole new level - this is how Titanic should
have sounded to begin with!

The remainder of the CD contains re-recordings
of music from Apollo 13, Casper, Courage Under Fire, Star Trek II:
The Wrath of Khan, Aliens, Brainstorm, and Braveheart.
Also included are original recordings from Once Around and
Cocoon: The Return. All of the performances are top notch -
conductors Joel McNeely, John Debney and Cliff Eidelman do a fine job
leading the orchestras. The interesting thing was that James Horner
himself conducted the re-recording ofBrainstorm, and according
to the liner notes, this recording was done exclusively for Varese
Sarabande.

If you are an avid Horner fan, chances are that
you don' t need to own this CD because you probably have all the
scores represented on this album (there is nothing that hasn't been
released before). However, if you don't know too much about Horner
this album is an excellent way to get exposed to his works. It is
definitely a worthwhile listen solely for the Titanicsuite.

Titanic: The Essential James Horner Film
Music Collection [Silva Screen Records]

Silva Screen Records has released what has to be
the largest Horner compilation CD to date: it is almost 114 minutes
long, and is spaced out over 2 CDs. All of the music is re-recorded
by the City of Prague Philharmonic under the conducting baton of Nic
Raine. Most of the interpretations are excellent (some are a tad too
fast for my liking) but people used to some of the original
recordings might be a bit put off at first at some of the
re-recordings - there is an explanation.

The first CD contains music from Titanic,
Glory, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Legends of the Fall, The Land
Before Time, We're Back: A Dinosaur Story, Ransom, Red Heat, The
Rocketeer, andBraveheart. The music from Glory
sounds different than the film version, and some people might be
prone to instantly complain. But upon examining the liner notes, it
is discovered that the only scores available to the producers for
this re-recording were the original orchestral and choral drafts of
Horner's work. So in some instances, the music differs and is fuller
than the music heard in the film.

The second CD contains music from Apollo 13,
Cocoon, Battle Beyond The Stars, The Man Without a Face, Willow,
Field of Dreams, Patriot Games, The Name of the Rose, Commando, Deep
Impact and a special symphonic version of "My Heart Will Go On"
fromTitanic.

What makes this compilation album different than
the others, aside from the amount of music, is that there are
actually re-recordings of unreleased scores by Horner. Most notably,
it's nice to have music from Red Heat, Commando, and Battle
Beyond the Stars presented on this CD. For those that are
familiar with John Woo's classic action film The Killer, you
might be surprised to discover that Red Heat was used in the
Hong Kong film. I also have to say that I prefer the rendition of the
main theme that John Beal did for "Heart of the Ocean", since it was
based directly off the film version, and has more energy.

This compilation is definitely worth picking up
- especially since the price is supposed to be that of a normal CD,
and you're getting a lot of music for the money. Silva Screen Records
is also releasing a similar styled 2-CD compilation album for the
music of Jerry Goldsmith later in September. Be prepared for a review
on Goldsmith compilation albums around that time.